The night before Dasia & Scott’s big day, Ryan and I had a blast hanging out with them and their familes for the rehearsal dinner.  I know, I know,  it’s wierd that we’re posting these AFTER their wedding photos.  What can I say?  Last week was a little crazy for us and I kinda figured they were a bit more anxious to see their wedding photos, but it was such a fun night we just couldn’t help sharing a few.

We started out at the Biltmore for a little practice run.  Great shot of proud papa Lionel and the gorgeous bride waiting to walk down the isle. 

Not only did her dad walk Dasia down the isle, but he also performed their ceremony.  Looks like they’re all having a pretty good time up there!

 

One of my favorite parts of the evening was the ride to dinner after the rehearsal.  They rented a super fun party bus, compelete with dancing poles, to transport the whole group!

Everybody got in on the action!  Hillarious! 

Dinner took place at Sushi Roku located in the W Hotel in Scottsdale.  Stylish and super chic – a perfect fit for this bride & groom! 

Seriously!  They were such a fun group! 

The decor at the W was really awesome and full of color.  We just had to steal Dasia & Scott away for a few quick photos. 

The rest of the night was full of fun . . . 

Lots of photos . . . 

Plenty of laughter . . . 

And a good amount of silliness too! 

Thanks for letting us be a part of it you guys!

- Denise

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On Saturday I headed to California Pizza Kitchen at the Arizona Biltmore to shoot a baby shower for Karina & Susan.  Since baby showers tend to be a pretty girly affair, Ryan opted to let me cover this event without him. It’s a good thing too, because the place was packed!  There was barely room for ONE photographer :-)  Ryan and I had a wedding to go to later that night so I was only able to stay for part of the shower, but I had a great time capturing this very special event.

Karina and Susan are good friends of my sister Amy.  Karina and Amy work together as labor & delivery nurses at Maricopa County hospital.  You may remember her as the party planner extraordinaire from Amy’s shower way back in July of 2008.  Karina & Susan are expecting their first baby, a little girl named Greyson in April.  From all the friends and family that showed up to celebrate with them, I’m sure that Greyson is going to be well loved :-)

As is usually the case with baby showers, there were lots of fun details.  Kudos to the party planners!

I super loved the cake made out of diapers – doesn’t SOUND very appetizing, but it made for super cute baby shower decor :-)

There was a real cake too of course!

Party planner Jadie putting some finishing touches on the decor.

Here’s a shot of the mommies-to-be surveying all of their goodies!

They’re doing Greyson’s room with a Lamb theme so there was plenty of cute lambies in among the goodies.

 

He he he . . . this gift bag made me smile :-)

A few of the happy party goers . . .

What baby shower would be complete without a baby?  And what baby is more adorable than my niece Makena!  Amy, Makena and our Mom showed up right before I had to leave, but I managed to grab at least one quick shot of her “working the room”.

Here’s a shot of Karina, Susan and all their “COPA” friends

One last shot of the Mommies-to-be :-)  Thanks for letting me be a part of your celebration – can’t wait to meet Greyson!

 

Yesterday, I shot a baby shower for one of my favorite clients – my sister Amy :-)  She’s due to deliver our first little niece in September and Ryan and I could not be more excited about it!  One of Amy’s good friends Corina, hosted the shower on Saturday at the Claim Jumper Restaurant in Tempe.  Probably the largest baby shower I’ve even been too, the group pretty much filled up the private party room.  Here’s a shot of the room before all of the guests had even arrived yet.

The gals did a wonderful job of organizing and decorating for the celebration.  Here are a few of the fun details!  Everything they used for decor where items that she can use when the baby comes.

Amy loves turtles so the diaper/turtle toy center pieces were especially appropriate :-)

Loved the purple flowers – and the fact that the vases were baby bottles off of Amy’s registry!  So clever :-)

Some happy party guests . . .

Here’s a shot of Amy and Corina – the party planner extraordinaire!

And what baby shower would be complete without a couple of cute babies?  These kids got passed around so much I’m still not really sure who they belong too!

Here’s the Mommy to be getting ready to open gifts – doesn’t she have that adorable “pregnant woman glow”?  She looks so happy :-)

 So cute!!! Notice the turtle theme?

Apparently the “Diaper Genie” is a MUST HAVE new mommy gift.  Gotta love Amy’s reaction to the cheering and applause of all the experienced mommies in the room.  Who knew something with the word diaper in it could be such a crowd pleaser?

And last but not least, MY favorite baby gift - tiny pink Cros!

They’ll match Amy’s perfectly . . .

Loving that baby belly!

Thanks to everyone for creating such an awesome shower for my beautiful sister!  And to that little girl in there – we can’t wait to meet you, but you’re not allowed to be born until I get to feel you move!  (She’s always quiet when I’m around - so stubborn already!  Guess it runs in the family, ha ha ha!)